Hookless fastener article



Patented Aug. 6, 1940 UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE HOOKLESS FASTENER ARTICLE Samuel L. Hoffman, New York, N. Y.

Application March 22, 1939, Serial No. 263,373 1 Claim. (Cl. 24205) This invention relates generally to hookless fastener articles, More particularly my invention relates to a hookless fastener article adapted. for use in connection with wearing apparel.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide as an article of manufacture a hookless fastener construction which is readily adapted for use in connection with wearing apparel and which is so designed that adjacently disposed materials of the garment or in some instances, adjacently disposed skin of the wearer will be protected against damage by the operation of the hookless fastener elements.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hookiess fastener article of the character described which shall be extremely simple in construction, which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and which, at the same time,

shall be highly effective for the purposes intended.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of part which will be exemplifled in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claim.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a hookless fastener article constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a rearelevational view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig, 4'is a cross sectional view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating a method of attaching the article of my invention to a garment.

It is well known that, in hookless fastener devices heretofore employed in connection with wearing apparel, the operation of the slider member for joining corresponding fastener elements often causeddamage to adjacent materials of the said wearing apparel or of other garments worn or sometimes of the skin itself, due to the fact that the fastener elements would catch in the material orthe skin as they are being interlocked. By my invention, I have constructed an article of manufacture in which hookless fastener elements'may be attached to articles of wearing apparel without any damage thereto and withou danger to the user.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, there is disclosed a hookless fastener article of manufacture comprising a pair of bands or tapes I!) and II having attached to the adjacently disposed longitudinal edges thereof cooperating hookless 5 fastener elements i2 and M respectively. A slider i5 having a pull member I6 is mounted so as to spread apart and interlock the cooperating fastener elements i2 and H in the manner well known in the art. 10

In order to protect materials disposed adjacent the cooperating fastener elements i2 and it, I provide a protective tape member 20 which may be made of any suitable fabric and which may comprise a strip of material longitudinally folded substantially in half to provide the adjacently disposed portions a and 20b and which may also have portions 200 and 20d adjacent the free edges thereof folded inwardly as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing. While I have shown and de-' 20 scribed the protective member 20 as being composed of two layers of material, it is understood that the same may be made of a single layer. However, the double layer arrangement provides a better cushioning effect for the protection against the rigid hookless fastener elements. The said strip of material 20 is permanently attached to one of the tapes, such as forexample, the tape H,by the rows of stitching 25 and 26,whichstitching passes through the tape l I and the adjacently 80 disposed layers of the member 20. The member 20 is of greater width than that of the tape ll so that the major portion thereof overhangs the cooperating fastener elements I! and M, together with-a portion of the tape l0.

' When the article of my invention is applied to separated portions ,30 and of a garment adjacent a desired slit, such as for example, a placket as will be seen from Fig. 4 of the drawing, the protective layer of material 20 will be inter- 40 posed between the elements l2 and I4 and an adjacent garment portion or the skin of the wearer for protection against damage by the operation of the slider IS. The hookless fastenerarticle as shown in Fig. 3 may be attached to the garment by suitable lines of stitching 35 and 36 as shown.

In order to prevent the beginning end of the protective layer member 20 from itself catching in the fastener elements when the slider is operated, I prefer to fold the same over backwardly on itself before applying the stitching lines 25 and 26, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The folded end 40 is thus reinforced and at the same time will not interfere with'or be caught in the fastener elements.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which is Well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

An article of manufacture of the character described adapted to be sold to consumers as a unit for ultimate attachment to garments comprising a pair of longitudinal strips of fabric provided with cooperating hookless fastener elements on their adjacently disposed longitudinal edges, a slider for operating said elements, a third longitudinal strip of fabric permanently fastened to one of said pair of strips and having a portion thereof freely overlying said hookless fastener elements, said third strip having a portion adjacent one end thereof folded over on itself to form a fold line disposed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said strips and permanently maintained in such folded condition to prevent the said end from catching in the said fastener elements when the slider is operated.

SAMUEL L. HOFFMAN. 

